


Bound

by Rinkafic



Series: Telpa 'verse [4]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Stargate Atlantis AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-12
Updated: 2011-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-23 16:52:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/252604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warning: Slave!fic, BDSM, mention of off-screen death of canon character</p><p>Laura earned a treat.  Wrin Parr'ish has odd ways of rewarding his telpa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [camshaft22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/camshaft22/gifts).



Kicking her feet, Laura was stretched out on her stomach on the center of the fluffiest rug in The Wrin’s chambers. She had the morning free and did not intend to do anything except stay where she was, reading the romantic novel The Wrin had loaned her. She was about halfway through and the plot was becoming more intricate and exciting with each chapter.

The doors slammed open and Lorne stormed in, his boot heels clattering on the tile. She was still jealous of those boots, a boon from The Wrin for something Lorne had done to please him. So far as she knew, Lorne was the only telpa in the Bardero, other than Max, to have footwear that wasn't sandals.

“Up, up, c’mon. Hurry,” he shouted at her as he dove through the curtains of the antechamber where their few personal belongings were stored and one or the other of them would sleep when not in The Wrin’s bed.

Reluctantly, she closed her book and set it on a side table. She got to her feet as Lorne emerged with his arms full of her clothing. He dropped it all on the settee beside her and reached for the short skirt she was wearing, undoing the ties before she had a chance to. He was obviously in a hurry. “I can do it, Lorne, what’s the rush?”

“Wrin David ordered you dressed and brought down to the courtyard. We’re going out.” Lorne knelt and wrapped the straps of her specially made belt around her hips, bending to see where the clasps went as he pressed the protective center into place against her crotch. She knew better than to argue when he was being quick and efficient like this, so she stood still with her legs spread and held his shoulders for balance as he got her into the harness.

As he was working, she reached across his back for the long overskirt that he’d chosen, Bardero Parr’ish green, of course. She wrapped it around her waist as he picked up a stiff gray leather corset from the settee and stood with it in his hands. He’d obviously chosen it because it had the Bardero’s emblem embossed and painted in green on the front placard. Laura hated this one; it pressed her breasts flat as a board and her nipples would be aching when she finally got out of it. She hoped it was not going to be a long day.

Quickly and efficiently, he secured it around her middle, roughly tucking her breasts in until she slapped his hands away and did the job herself. Lorne put a knee to her lower back and began tightening the cords as she sucked in and tried to keep her balance. “I hate the tit squisher,” she grumbled.

“He specifically ordered this one.”

“Of course he did. He likes knowing I’m aching when I’m walking around.” Laura gasped as Lorne pulled exceptionally hard, nearly knocking her over.

When he finished tightening and tucking the cords in, he slapped her ass. “Done. Come along.” He reached for the silk shirt he’d dropped beside her clothes, also in Parr'ish green, pulling it on as he headed for the door.

She had to run to keep up with him, no easy task considering her attire. She envied him the long trousers he wore tucked into those damned boots. “Where are we going, do you know?” Of course he knew, he knew almost everything, it was just a matter of whether he would tell her or not.

“There was a messenger while they were having the morning meal. Three feuding Barderos down south had their assets seized for non payment of taxes, right in the middle of their little war. The furnishings, livestock and telpa were sent here to The Springs to be sold off, there’s a special auction today at the Tax House. The Wrin wants to get in before the auction for a direct sale if he can manage it.”

He fell silent as they passed Sran Phil’s chambers, it was never a good idea to be caught gossiping by the Wrin’s brother or any of his servants. As they crossed the open balustrade to the main house, Lorne continued. “What an argument! Wrin David was trying to get the DranWrin to release his allotment for the quarter so he’d have funds to attend the auction. He even asked politely this time. The DranWrin suggested he sell your seal, if he needed cash.”

“Let me guess, his ears turned red and he got all pinch-faced and nasty?”

Lorne tapped the side of his nose and nodded. “He said he’d sell Max instead, and that started a shouting match. Needless to say, he got the coin.” He reached for the door leading to the stairs, letting her go first. Lorne could be a font of information, when he was in the mood to share it. After a minor altercation on the street a few moons prior, the Wrin had insisted on keeping Lorne close at hand to serve as his personal body guard. This was much to the annoyance of the DranWrin, which, of course, is why the Wrin insisted on it, since anything that annoyed, irritated, or infuriated his father or brother became a source of amusement for The Wrin. Being at his heel all the time, Lorne overheard things. He also ate well; The Wrin often fed Lorne off his own plate, again, because it irked his father and brother.

Not that she truly envied him the position, Lorne also tended to get hit a lot. The DranWrin frequently took his aggression towards his son out on whichever telpa happened to be closest when his temper exploded, and lately, that had been Lorne.

Impatiently tapping his foot and looking very cross, The Wrin glanced up and down at her as they stepped out into the courtyard, twirling a finger to have her turn for inspection. “You’ll do.” He gestured briskly to the waiting carriage. “Up.”

As Lorne moved closer to boost Laura up to the step, The Wrin lashed out with his walking stick, catching Lorne across the ass with a sharp crack. “I told you to be quick.” The Wrin mounted the step and threw himself into his seat as Laura settled herself and glanced over at Lorne with a sympathetic look. He shrugged it off and climbed up after The Wrin and sat on the bench beside Laura, the strike didn’t appear to have troubled him in the slightest.

She could count on one hand the number of times she had left the Bardero since being purchased almost six moons before. As the carriage rolled through the streets, she leaned on the open edge, looking everywhere at once, soaking it in to think about later, when she needed pleasant thoughts to occupy her mind.

The building they stopped at was huge, the largest Laura had seen, it was even bigger than the Pilgrimage House on her homeworld. She followed The Wrin, once again having to rush to keep up with his broad steps. Lorne was at her back now, protecting her as much as he was guarding The Wrin. Anjenne and Max had been riding on the back of the carriage and they followed too. Laura wondered why she was here, she wasn’t a guard like Lorne or Max, and she had no special insight into which telpa had potential, the way Max and Anjenne did. She knew better than to ask, The Wrin did not often discipline her, but questioning his motives in public, even in front of Max and Anjenne, would earn her a quick and painful reprimand, and possible retribution later.

They walked down many corridors, progressing downward through a series of ramps and stairways. It was not so grand in the lower levels of the majestic building. The air was damp and rank. It was much louder here than it had been in the pens when she and Lorne had been brought to The Springs. A hand reached out between the rails of a pen and tried to grab her arm, she jumped aside. Max quickly put himself between her and the holding cells as they walked past. Laura was mildly annoyed by this; she was coming along very well in her defensive lessons and didn’t need him protecting her. The Wrin liked to tease that he intended her to be his second bodyguard one day, if she learned her lessons well enough.

Max wrinkled his nose as the stench suddenly got worse and gave a cough. The Wrin waved a hand in front of his face and griped, “Don’t they wash them?”

“I am more concerned that they don’t seem to drug them, Wrin,” Anjenne was looking into the pens as they walked, frowning and shaking his head in disapproval as telpa threw themselves at the bars and called, begged and shouted at them. It was loud and disorderly.

Lorne moved up until he was practically pressed against The Wrin’s back. Close enough to hear, Laura overheard him say, “Desperation makes people dangerous, Wrin David.” He was the only one allowed to refer to The Wrin thus, another boon granted to Lorne, and another privilege that made the Sran and DranWrin angry. A telpa did not use a family name, it was not done. And yet, The Wrin allowed Lorne the liberty. Laura was only allowed the use of his family name in the one instance, when her affliction was upon her and she needed to alert him to the fact, and then he helped her to calm down, filling the role the Priestesses had for her in the past.

A man rushed towards them, Max grabbed Laura’s arm and pulled her up against him, and Lorne immediately moved in front of The Wrin, only to be shoved aside impatiently and threatened with the walking stick. The Wrin only tolerated so much of Lorne's protection. “ _Ard_! Back. Enough.” He turned to look at the cringing man and asked, “Are you the Keeper of this cesspit?”

Regaining a modicum of dignity at the question, the man answered, “For the moment. May I see your credentials?”

Laura saw The Wrin’s shoulders snap back and if he’d had hackles, they would have risen. She hoped he worked his temper off before they got home, or she and Lorne were going to be stiff, sore and possibly bloody tonight. He reached into the pocket of his robe and withdrew a leather case, opening it and taking out his papers to hand over. The little man looked them over and handed them back. “Very well, Wrin Parr’ish, a matter of form, you understand.”

“Of course,” his tone conveyed his insult.

“There are quite a number of lots due to the seizures. We have sorted the majority by skill sets. Do you care to walk the dungeons looking? Perhaps I may direct you if you seek something in particular?”

“Where are you keeping the brothel and common body telpa? I have an order to fulfill.”

The man nodded and pointed, “The sections marked three through nine down that corridor.”

The Wrin barked, “Anjenne, Max, you know our needs, go wander about, see if you find anything interesting.” He turned back to the little man and said, “I want a woman, a small one, to be trained up as a personal body telpa.”

“She does not have to be already trained?”

The Wrin shook his head. “It would be far better if she were not.”

“Follow me. We’ve culled a few to be auctioned separately. One might be to your liking.”

He led them through a corridor and into an open chamber. The telpa being kept here were bound, chained to the walls or to benches. He pointed to a blonde woman chained by the wrists and ankles to one of the chamber’s wide support posts. The Wrin casually walked over, looking the woman up and down. “She’s small enough, I suppose. Lorne, do you think Laura could flatten her if she needed to?”

“Laura could flatten someone much larger, if she put her mind to it, Wrin David,” Lorne smirked and rubbed his chin.

The woman screeched and hurled herself forward, going to the end of the chains, her hands forming claws as she tried to reach The Wrin. “Oh, settle down, you wretched creature,” The Wrin scolded. He tilted his head and stared at the woman’s midsection. “She’s been bred.”

“Yes, Wrin Parr’ish. She was a top breeder for the Porta Bardero.”

Moving back beside Laura, The Wrin shook his head. “I don’t want a breeder. I want a toy.” He reached a hand up to caress her hair. “My Little Priestess has earned a toy of her own to practice on.”

Oh, so that’s what this was about. The Wrin had been getting increasingly annoyed when he returned to his chambers in recent moons to find that Laura had bound Lorne again as she practiced her knots and strapping techniques. She had tried pointing out that Lorne _liked_ being tied up and was a very willing practice dummy for her, but The Wrin still complained. He liked Lorne being accessible whenever he had the urge to take him or use him. And Laura’s increasingly intricate rope work interfered with that. Laura secretly thought he was just mad because he didn’t think of tying Lorne up first. She’d even tried leaving Lorne trussed up on the Wrin’s bed as a gift a few nights ago, but he’d still been annoyed enough to take it out on Laura, one of the rare times he had used her to slake his needs as he usually used Lorne.

“I’ve got another mis-colored one, would make a nice pair.” The Keeper pointed to a red-haired wench huddled on the floor, not far from them. When she looked up as they approached The Wrin shook his head and muttered so only Laura heard, “Broken.” Laura peered closer to try to see what he had seen so quickly in the unfortunate telpa. He gave her a shove towards the girl and said quietly. “Talk to her. You’ll see. It’s in the eyes.”

“Where are you from?” Laura asked nervously, unsure how to go about talking to an unclaimed telpa, one with no allegiance to a Bardero.

The girl shrugged and huddled down again. “South. Porta Bardero.”

“What did you do there?”

“Nursery, until the DranWrin started selling us off for private parties to raise funds.” She shuddered and hunkered down again. “They took all the babies away, you know. No more babies.”

Laura took a step back, clutched at The Wrin’s sleeve and whispered near his ear, "Wrin David, I don’t want to play with her, I couldn't, she’s too sad.”

He forgave her the slip of the tongue, kissed her forehead and steered her away. “Not everyone had a choice like you did, pet. Now you see why you and Lorne were such a find for me, it took me years of sorting through these kinds of offerings to get the pair of you. I was lucky that day.”

They passed up another ten females they were shown. “Perhaps a small male instead,” The Wrin said to the Keeper as he turned away from another chained, wailing, wrecked telpa. Laura thought that things must be very bad in the south at those feuding Barderos.

The little man was growing impatient with them. Laura didn’t care; she’d have to live with the choice they made. The Wrin was being careful in his selection and she appreciated the concern he had for her safety. She wanted someone suitable. “Someone with a brain,” she said aloud, then blushed as the Keeper gave her a disapproving glance.

But The Wrin clapped his hands in delight. “Yes, a smart one, someone to teach her bookkeeping.” That was news; she didn’t know The Wrin had planned to have her learn anything like that. He was always coming up with new things for her to do, so she shouldn’t really have been surprised.

“Very well, come this way, there are a few of the higher ranking house telpa from all three Barderos being kept together,” the Keeper sighed and waved them on. Laura was glad to leave the chamber of pathetic broken telpa behind; it disquieted her to see them.

When they entered the next chamber, The Wrin’s expression brightened and he walked directly over to a slim man, not even Lorne's height, chained only by the wrists to a post. He prodded him into turning from side to side, looking him up and down. The Wrin grasped his chin and forced his face up, then opened his mouth, checking his teeth.

“What did you do, at your last post?” The Wrin demanded as he dropped the man’s face.

“He might not understand you, Wrin, he came from Bardero Prag,” the Keeper interrupted.

The Wrin tilted his head and asked the man, “Do you understand me?”

The little man’s blue eyes were looking over Lorne, and then Laura in an appraising manner. Laura gave him a small encouraging smile as their eyes met. “ _Ano_ , yes, I understand, Honored Wrin. I was account keeper, keyholder for the pantry.”

“A position of trust. How long did you serve Bardero Prag?”

“I was born in service, Honored Wrin, thirty five years,” his soft voice had an accent that Laura had not heard before. He looked sad, but his eyes did not look as empty as the others they had seen. A good position might be beneficial to this telpa.

She tugged The Wrin’s sleeve, “Please, Wrin, him.”

He glanced at her, startled. “Really? No. I don’t think so. He’s not for you, Little Priestess; you’d break him within a moon.” The Wrin reached into a pocket and tugged out a coin purse, counting out a number of zercs and handing them to the Keeper. “Seven zercs.”

The Keeper pursed his lips. “He’s good breeding stock, blue eyes, a quick mind.”

“He's too slight of build to breed. You're fortunate I'm offering more than five, which is the going high-rate for a trained clerk.” The Wrin waved the hand holding the coin, and the Keeper took it grudgingly, realizing correctly that Wrin Parr’ish was not the sort to bargain.

“Leash him. We’ll take him now. I don’t trust this place to wash anything properly.” The Wrin stepped aside as the Keeper unlocked the chains and attached a leash to the collar around the telpa’s neck. The little man began to rub at his wrists as soon as the heavy manacles were gone.

“Are you going to give me any trouble, telpa?” The Wrin asked with an amused smirk, tossing the leash to Lorne.

Their new acquisition shook his head. “No, Honored Wrin. No trouble.”

“Correct answer. _Rer_.” He snapped his fingers. After he had walked a few steps, he turned back and said to the telpa, “My Little Priestess here likes tying people up, do you have a problem with that? She’s practicing, you see.” The Wrin reached over and tugged at the belt strap hanging at Laura’s waist, displaying the single rivet driven through it, denoting that she had earned the first rank of a Trainer at Bardro Parr’ish.

The new telpa shook his shaggy head, giving Laura an odd appraising glance. She shrugged and smiled.

“Good, then you will do nicely for our purposes. But I still want to look around. Keeper, show me more. I want one she can beat up when she’s done learning her knot work.”

Laura rolled her eyes and followed after the men. She wondered idly what Max and Anjenne had found during their search. They walked past an alcove and movement within caught Laura’s eye. She stopped and took a step back, looking into the dim nook and seeing a telpa bound and chained to the wall. As she moved forward, the woman shied away and back. Laura looked at her in bewilderment; she had a gag over her mouth, a heavy leather gag. She was bound heavily as well, with thick leather straps and chains running through them. These were punishment bindings meant for a full grown man, not a slight thing like this girl.

“Wrin Parr’ish?” Laura called over her shoulder as she stared at the dark haired woman.

He stopped and turned back, following her line of vision to look at the telpa. “My, my, my, what have we here?” He clucked his tongue and walked forward. The woman stepped back until she was pressed against the wall as he moved closer. “Must be a wild one, to be so trussed up, are you a wild one, little telpa?” The Wrin reached out and hooked the handle of his walking stick in one of the chains at her waist, yanking her forward into the light, what little of it there was in the dungeon.

“Tiny little thing like you, and all this strapping?” The Wrin walked a circle around her, his experienced eye taking note of things Laura did not yet know to look for.

She was pretty; Laura saw that, even through the dirt. Her waist length dark hair was filthy and so badly ratted and knotted that the ruin of it would likely need to be cut off. The wide, tired and frightened eyes that stared at Laura were blue. Shockingly blue. She was tiny, as The Wrin had said, built very much like Laura, small breasts, narrow waist, about Laura’s height, though it was hard to tell as she was bent forward and out of shape from the bindings.

And what bindings. Laura drew a deep breath and shuddered as she looked over the strapwork holding the little telpa. It had been done by a master; even Laura with her barely trained eye could see that. She did not know why seeing someone bound affected her so. Her knees were feeling wobbly as she looked on the girl, imagining the marks that would be on her skin when the bindings were removed, the dents and indentations that would be left behind. This might be binding for purpose, but it was still artfully done, and Laura appreciated the artistry.

The Wrin was watching her, a knowing smile on his face; he knew exactly how the sight of a tightly bound body affected her. He moved to stand over her, and breathed, “You like? You see how beautiful when properly done? You see the work of a true master here, Little Priestess, leather crafter and binder both.” He leaned closer and whispered, “Do you want to unwrap her and see what is underneath all that lovely leather and chain?”

Falling into the spell of his words she nodded stupidly. Her breath was coming in short pants, the leather between her legs was saturated, and she was throbbing. Why did this affect her so? She often got this way when she finished binding Lorne. Sometimes Lorne obliged her by pleasuring her when she got this worked up, since The Wrin usually just laughed at her and told her to go play with herself.

The Wrin spun towards the Keeper. “Where is she from?”

“We’re not certain, Wrin. She came in with the batch from Porta Bardero, but none of the telpa claim to know her. She’s not talking, obviously. We tried taking the gag off, but she bites, so it stays.”

“Has she any Bardero marks?”

“No, Wrin, no neck inks, no arm, ass or neck brands, not even a foot mark to tell us where she was birthed. It is very odd, unless she’s marked somewhere under those bindings, though I’ve only seen that done a handful of times myself.”

Waving the Keeper’s words off, The Wrin snorted, “Not every telpa is marked or branded, Keeper.”

“Most are,” the Keeper was truly impatient with them, if he was stepping outside his station to argue with a Wrin.

Laura shivered at the look The Wrin gave her as he said with implied meaning, “Sometimes a mark takes time to earn.”

The Wrin looked the bound telpa up and down. “Lorne, you can control her if she gets out of hand?”

“Yes, of course, Wrin David,” Lorne replied, smirking as the Keeper rolled his eyes in disgust at the familiar address. “She’s hardly a pikeman or drover, and I could handle them with no problem.”

The Wrin pulled the purse from his pocket, counting coins. “Unknown origin, unknown breeding status, unknown skill set, and apparently a wild telpa with a biting problem; four zercs, I added one for the tack, that’s worth a full zerc. Keep her chained.”

With a heavy sigh of resignation, the Keeper held out his hand and accepted the money. “Take her. Did you need to see any others, Wrin Parr’ish?”

“No, that will be all, I'm disappointed with the offerings today. I’ll settle up for whatever my men found in the other pens and we’ll be going.” The Keeper unlocked the girl’s chain from the wall and held it out to The Wrin, who refused with a wave, “Lorne, take the girl, I’m certain Laura can handle our little bookkeeper.”

Laura accepted the leash from Lorne and looked at the man, holding up a warning finger as she said, “No trouble, right?”

“No trouble, right,” he agreed with a smile.

She wondered if The Wrin would allow the two new tepla to have their names. It seemed to be his habit, but maybe he would give them new names.

The girl took three steps and fell over on her face. The Wrin huffed impatiently and gestured to Lorne, who picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of laundry. Laura followed along behind, swinging the leash in her hand, watching the girl’s long hair drag the floor, gathering more dirt.

“Lorne, _Ard_ , hold,” Laura called; he obeyed instantly, as he always did, even though she was not supposed to use commands on another telpa outside training. She moved forward and eyed the girl's hair. “Wrin, may I borrow your blade?”

“Are you going to carve on your toy already, Little Priestess? I didn't know you had leanings towards blood play,” he teased, handing her the knife, a ceremonial dagger that he always wore. It had been a gift to him from his mother when he had earned his fifteenth level, just before she died. He had told Laura that one night when he was well into his cups upon the anniversary of her death.

“Yes, Wrin, I’m going to slash her to ribbons and waste your coin because I want you to beat me half unto death,” Laura replied, earning a swat on the behind for her sauciness.

Knowing The Wrin would not tolerate a delay long enough for her to cut the girl’s troublesome hair, she sliced off a dangling piece of the binding, a thin strip of cording that hung uselessly from the girl’s shoulder. She palmed the blade and offered the handle back to The Wrin. He nodded his approval when he saw what she was doing and sheathed the blade. She gathered the girl’s hair, folded it over once and then secured it tightly with the binding cord.

“There, at least we won’t bring half the mites and fleas from the floor home with us,” she said with satisfaction.

Max and Anjenne had found only four suitable brothel telpa, which caused The Wrin to frown with displeasure. “I have an order for nine.”

“They were well worn, Wrin. Might be better to check the other pens, maybe a young field or house telpa would take brothel training,” Max advised.

Glancing at Lorne and Laura, he sighed and conceded, “I’ll do a walk through.” He pointed at Lorne, “Go home. Then send the carriage back for us.” Lorne nodded. The Wrin pointed to the telpa on the leash in Laura’s hand, “Take him to the baths, have him cleansed. Then have him bathed again. Get him suitable clothes and feed him. Find him a place in the dormitories to sleep. If Bates gives you a problem, tell him I’m teaching Laura how to give enemas this cycle and I’ve no problem using him to demonstrate.”

“Oh, aye, that’ll shut Bates up, he hates that,” Anjenne laughed heartily.

Ignoring Anjenne, The Wrin pulled Laura aside and told her quietly, “She is your responsibility, your personal body telpa, to do with as you please. All her training is on you. Clean her up, keep her out of trouble. If she gets into trouble, you’ll both be punished. Train her as you see fit. I’ll test her in six moons, and we’ll see where your rank falls.”

“Thank you Wrin, will you take a token?”

He smiled wickedly and put a hand to the waist ties on his robe. “It has been a trying day, so I think I will.” When her eyes widened in shock and darted left and right to see how many people were watching, he chuckled and bent his head and caught her mouth, kissing her. He smacked her rear end sharply and pushed her away. “Go home. Try not to let the little wild telpa wreck my chambers. Max, Anjenne, let’s go see if we can’t dig up some decent telpa from this lot. There have to be some here somewhere.”

Laura nodded and followed Lorne outside to the carriage. Once the four of them were situated, Lorne signaled the driver to go.

The little bookkeeper was staring in disbelief as the carriage moved away from the building. “We are not under guard? You are not chained? How is this?”

“We’re Choicers and the Wrin’s personal body telpa,” Lorne said, as if that explained everything. Laura supposed that in Lorne’s mind, it did.

“Where would we go?” Laura asked. She looked at the bound girl propped on the bench across from her, bobbing in place, she seemed to be fighting to stay alert. “Bardero Parr’ish is good to us. We have decent food, comfortable beds, a solid roof over our heads, and a Wrin that protects us.”

At the last words, the girl blinked furiously, her eyes shimmering with tears.

“What’s your name?” Laura blurted at the little man.

Lorne smacked her arm, scandalized, and hissed, “Laura!”

“Maybe The Wrin will let him keep it, he let us keep ours.” She rubbed at the sore spot on her arm.

“You kept your names; you were not given position names?” The man looked shocked.

“Our Wrin does things differently,” Lorne said.

“I do not have a name. I had a position. I was keyholder.”

Blinking in astonishment, Laura leaned forward and looked at him. “Surely your mother called you something?”

“When I was small, I was called Radek.”

“Then I’ll call you Radek,” Laura declared, clapped her hands and sat back against her seat, ignoring the dirty looks Lorne was tossing her way.

“You’re going to get in so much trouble. I’m going to enjoy watching Wrin David turn your ass black and blue for impertinence,” Lorne finally said. “I’ll even bring him the paddle.”

“Turncoat.”

“To watch you get a hiding? By Shelatin’s Tits, yes! You keep getting away with stuff, about time you got caught and really punished.” It was a rare show of temper from him, and even rarer that he had raised his voice. Lorne pointed his finger at her nose. “You got a body telpa, your own body telpa!”

He was jealous, she realized. Smiling, she countered, “Well, you got boots.”

Lorne blinked at her, looked at the boots on his feet then over at Radek and the bound girl watching them both as if they were insane, back at his boots again and then at Laura. “H gave you a body telpa. Do you have any concept in that flighty little red head of yours what he is dumping on you? What he’s setting you up for if you fail?” He rapped his knuckles against the side of her head.

“I won’t fail,” she replied with more petulance than conviction.

“You’d better not; her fate is in your hands now. If she doesn’t measure up in six moons, you’re both going to pay for it.”

“I didn’t ask…”

“Surely you know by now that Wrin David never does anything with a single purpose? Think about it, Laura, think the whole thing through. Why else would he do this?”

She sat back and did as he said, coming to the conclusion, “To get at the DranWrin, somehow. Doesn’t it always come back to that?”

“Usually,” Lorne replied, staring out at the road leading to Bardero Parr’ish.

She thought some more, staring at the girl. She snapped, “Are you going to give me trouble, girl?” The girl shook her head back and forth slowly. “You’ll behave, when we take those bindings off you?” The girl nodded wearily.

The carriage reached the front entry, and Lorne bounded out, reaching back to drag the girl across the seat and across his shoulders again. He told the driver to return to collect The Wrin and then led Laura and Radek to the side entrance.

As they made their way through the corridors, Radek was looking everywhere, taking it all in. As they approached the south wing, Laura held a finger to her lips. “Go quietly here, always. Do not draw Sran Phil’s attention.” Radek nodded in understanding. Raised in a Bardero, he probably understood internal house politics better than Laura ever would.

They reached The Wrin’s chambers and Laura ran forward to open the doors. The cleaning telpa were inside, dusting off the furnishings. Laura waved at them when they looked up in panic at the intrusion. The Sran and The DranWrin were notorious for punishing house telpa caught dawdling at their tasks. Telpa were to be invisible. Visible telpa were troublesome, and troublesome telpa were disciplined. The Sran and DranWrin took even more pleasure in the task of disciplining than The Wrin did.

“Zoolie, would you bring a tray? We have not eaten. The Wrin will be home soon and will be looking for a meal,” Laura asked the nearest servant. Zoolie bobbed her head and dashed away towards the kitchens.

Lorne wrinkled his nose at Radek. “You, go in there and bathe. When you’ve scrubbed, drain the water and wash yourself again.” He pointed towards the large bathing chamber off the sitting area.

Following the directions, Radek disappeared into the chamber, and they soon heard the water running.

“I think the Wrin meant for him to be taken to the baths below, not sent to The Wrin’s private bath!” Laura exclaimed.

“I have no intention of leaving you alone with this one until we’re certain she’ll behave. Or until you demonstrate that you can properly subdue her. She might look sleepy, but it could be a ruse, she could turn feral when she’s let loose.” He had dropped the girl on the tile floor and now stood over her. The girl glared up at him.

“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll kick you,” Lorne warned. Laura hid her smirk behind her hand, knowing he’d do no such thing. He was actually very gentle in nature, and usually very slow to temper. But he could talk the mean talk when he applied himself, after a lifetime of dealing with sadistic superiors.

She waved at the chairs, “Go, sit. I’ll deal with her.” She gave a last longing look at the bindings, memorizing the placement, hoping she’d be able to duplicate the layout someday. She circled the girl. “Your training is my responsibility, do you understand that?”

The girl nodded.

“You will be properly trained, do you understand that?”

She nodded again.

“I am your Zahi, your Trainer, you will address me as such.”

Another nod. It was going well, so far.

“This is what is going to happen,” she started in the same manner The Wrin usually did when he announced something. “I am going to release your bindings. You will speak when you are instructed to do so. Do you understand?”

When she nodded, Laura knelt beside her and began to undo the straps and buckles, setting the pieces aside as they came off. She wore a thin linen shift under the leather and chains and cords. The girl began to shiver as the last of the tight leather pieces was removed. Laura reached up and undid the gag, pulling it carefully from the girl’s mouth.

She could hardly open her mouth; Laura had to pry her teeth apart to get it away. The girl began to shudder violently, alarming Laura. She glanced down, and where the shift parted, Laura was able to see that the girl’s skin was bruised. Her arms were also a mass of contusions. She lifted the edge of the shift, pulling it up. She gasped at the angry marks the bindings had left behind.

“Lorne! Get Mual, hurry!” Laura ordered. She heard his boots hitting the tile as he ran out.

Laura ran to the antechamber and grabbed a blanket from her bed, returning to wrap it around the shaking girl. “All right. All right, we’ll get you settled. How long were you bound up like that, girl?”

The girl’s teeth were chattering. “A cycle, maybe more,” she whispered in a raspy voice. The Wrin was going to be furious when he heard. Laura was furious now. She stroked the girl’s natty hair back from her face. “When did you last eat?”

“Yesterday.”

She heard foot steps, and then Mual’s chatter preceding her into the chamber, as it usually did. “Oh, Little Priestess, what’s this New Girl gone and done to herself?” Mual clucked her tongue as she knelt beside the girl and Laura. She pried away the blanket and looked under the shift. “Oh, my. Bad doings. Too long in harness, this one. This is bad doings.”

Mual chewed her lower lip and then looked at Lorne, snapping her fingers, “You, WrinHole, go run a warm bath in that chamber, right now. Warm, not hot. Then you go to the ice house and you bring me a bowl of ice. Go!” Mual waved her hand, expecting to be obeyed. Anyone that ever wanted future treatment from the healer obeyed when Mual gave an order.

Laura heard Lorne chasing Radek out of the bath. The clerk came out, wrapped in a towel, looking bewildered. “I am only washed once,” he said plaintively to Laura, upset that he had not carried out his orders completely.

“You can wash again later. She needs it more.” Laura waved a hand helplessly at her telpa. Her poor abused telpa. Hers. Oh, Lorne was right, this was a big responsibility.

Lorne came back and carried the shaking girl into the bath chamber, lowering her carefully into the warm water. He then left to fetch the ice, as she helped Mual strip the girl’s clothing, Laura heard him telling Radek to go with him, and that he would see him situated in the dormitories. Radek was whining that he needed clothes as he left the chambers.

“Where New Girl from, they bind her so?” Mual asked as she soaped a cloth and gently began to wash the shivering telpa.

“Don’t know. The Wrin bought her today, from the Tax House.”

Nodding in understanding, Mual said, “Bad things come from Tax House. No one to watch there, no one makes sure the sick stay away. The hurts don’t get soothed. All kinds come from Tax House. Fever that kill sweet DranaWrina come from Tax House telpa that she tended. ”

an>The girl wasn’t shaking quite so badly now. Laura looked down and winced at the dark bruises striping across the girl’s entire body. “Who bound you so, girl?” Laura asked.

“Taskmaster.”

“A Taskmaster did this?” Mual demanded, clucking her tongue again.

The girl nodded shakily, and through chattering teeth told them, “Was the only way. Had to hide. Hide in plain view. They thought I was one of the house telpa, being punished.”

“Who did?”

“The men that meant to kill me.”

Laura sat back and stared. She didn’t understand, her knowledge of the Bardero wars happening in the south was limited. The girl had chosen this excruciating form of binding as a disguise to escape? “Surely you had to know you’d be brought to the pens and sold with the others?”

“Better than a sword to the gut or gang rape.”

In her way, the girl had chosen, just as Laura and Lorne and the rest of their unit had. “You’re a Choicer.”

Her lips trembled as she said, “I am now.”

Lorne returned with the ice, coming over to hand it to Mual. Taking in the bruises, he sucked a breath loudly through his teeth and muttered, “Damn.”

“Out, WrinHole. I know you don’t care nothing for her titties, but she don’t know that and the New Girl feels bad enough.” Mual flicked a blonde braid over her shoulder and glared at Lorne.

“I’m going, I’m going.” He left.

Mual wrapped ice in a cloth and began to press it to the worst of the bruises. “This will take time to go away, New Girl. You’ll hurt for a few days.” The girl nodded, looking up at Mual gratefully.

Laura cleared her throat, she had to see to the traditional formalities, or The Wrin would smack her when he called her on it and found out she had not followed proper form. “You know who I am?”

“Zahi.”

“Correct. Do you know why you are here?”

“I am to be your body telpa.”

Mual gave a shocked little gasp at the girl’s answer, looking over at Laura with a little bit more respect than usual. “This is true? The Wrin gives you a body telpa?”

“Yes,” Laura replied simply, not elaborating. Mual could be a terrible gossip.

After a moment’s thought, Mual shook her head. “DranWrin Parr'ish is going to be most displeased.” She let out a chortle of glee. “Wrin David is so naughty. I do so love that boy. Yes I do. He give back the wickedness to the DranWrin twofold what was done on him. Yes he does.”

Though she would have loved to hear more about the cause of the animosity between the DranWrin and The Wrin, Laura had a telpa to sort out.

“You will be trained in the manner of telpa of Bardero Parr’ish. You will bring pride upon this Bardero. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” the girl said as Mual pressed more ice to her abdomen.

Laura chewed her lip, wondering if The Wrin really was going to be angry at her for using Radek’s name. Since she was already going to be in trouble, she might as well take the paddling for two sins as one. “I do not know if The Wrin will allow it, but I need something to call you. What is your name?”

“Allie. Call me Allie.”

“You let her rest a while, Little Priestess,” Mual had picked up the habit of calling her that from The Wrin. Laura had given up trying to dissuade the big woman of it, just as Lorne had given up being called anything but WrinHole by the healer. Some battles were just impossible to win.

Wandering out to the main chamber, Laura picked up the bindings. She had learned a lesson today; she had seen what neglect of a telpa could lead to. Seen what bindings done too tight and left to long could do to a body. She doubted she would ever forget.

Now what should she do with her, with Allie? She walked to the antechamber where she and Lorne slept, he much more rarely than she. He was stretched out on his bed now, his eyes closed, one arm thrown over his face. The Wrin was very demanding on him, he rarely got a chance to sleep alone, or sleep long for that matter. She, at least, could count on spending her blood cycle here, sleeping undisturbed. Or she could before; now she would have to share her space with Allie. Trying not to disturb him, she placed Allie’s bindings on the floor in the corner. She moved to her bed and pulled the sheets down and dug around beneath for the basket that held clothing. She pulled out a sleeved shift, it was soft, Allie needed soft now.

A thought occurred to her and she returned to the bathing chamber. “Her hair - cut it.”

Mual was startled. “But Laura, it is not usual.”

“She’s hurt, too hurt to sit through having that mess unraveled. Chop it to her shoulders, it will grow back. I don’t want to share my bedchamber with any pests that are nesting in that.” She pointed to Allie’s ratted hair.

“I suppose this is wise. I will do as you say,” Mual said, reaching for the shears in her basket.

House telpa came in with platters of food, and Laura silently directed them to the big table off to one side of the chamber. The Wrin would look there first if he was hungry when he returned.

When she returned to the bath chamber, Mual was dropping the last hank of matted hair on the floor. Allie looked better, with the fringe of hair across her forehead and the fairly even bob reaching her shoulders. She had her eyes closed, leaning back against the edge of the big bathtub. She looked fragile and young.

“What goes on here?” The Wrin demanded from behind Laura. She tensed, that was a bad tone, his displeased tone. He strode past her, looking down at Allie in the tub.

Rushing to explain, Laura said, “Wrin, she was bound up like that for over a cycle.”

He had a snarl on his lips as he looked over at Laura. She was going to have to take this. Lorne was asleep, Lorne needed the sleep, she could handle The Wrin. “Please, do not be angry, Wrin,” she tried to sooth. The Wrin did not sooth well, he would likely turn on her and become snappish and physical.

“They left her like that for a cycle? I should bring them up on charges!” The Wrin ranted. “It is unconscionable. Look at my property, she’s completely useless, she’ll be cycles in healing before anything can be done with her.”

Laura let him rant, ranting was good. If he verbalized, he might not need to be physical right away, sometimes he even worked through a whole temper by ranting. She didn’t dare mention that the people responsible for leaving Allie this way were the same ones that drew up formal charges and enforced the punishments for the district.

“Mual thinks a few days, Wrin. She’s not as wild as that Keeper led us to believe. She’s been quite tame and biddable.” Keeping her head down, Mual was wisely remaining silent as she worked over Allie.

“Really?” He looked over at Allie, now staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes as she cowered back in the water. He walked over and looked at her more closely. “Oh, look, she’s a blue eye.”

“So is the other one, Wrin, the new bookkeeper. You chose wisely today.” A little praise sometimes distracted him.

“Good. Maybe I’ll breed them; they both have the right coloring. Where’s Lorne?”

So much for that plan, there went Lorne's nap. “He is resting, Wrin. He was out training early with the Guards this morning.”

The Wrin’s lip turned down in a mild pout. Oh, it was one of those moods. Laura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He apparently _wanted_ to be handled today. “Have you eaten, Wrin? We had food sent up; it only just arrived and has not been sitting out very long.”

“No, I didn’t. I’m hungry.” He left the bath chamber after glancing down at Mual, and saying in a voice that was almost kind, “Do what you can for her.”

He stalked across the room and tumbled into his favorite chair, the brown leather one, and pointed to the food. Laura smiled and went to make him a plate, picking out things she knew he liked. She crossed the room and sat on the floor at his knee, holding the plate up for him. He grunted and took it and began to devour the offerings. He really had been hungry, it seemed.

“Did you find enough telpa to fill the order, Wrin?”

“Finally, out with the field telpa. They have the worst organization there. Did you question the girl?”

“Briefly. She’s a Choicer, Wrin.”

He smiled around the piece of cheese he had just jammed into his mouth. She knew that fact would make him happy; she had timed the delivery of the news for when he was calming down. “Her name is Allie,” just as she timed that piece of information.

His eyes flicked up past her shoulder and then back to her. “Did you name her that, Little Priestess?” The tone told her nothing, damn, she might be walking into a trap. He loved to lay traps for her to fall into.

“No, Wrin. She said that was her name when I asked, and the little bookkeeper is called Radek.”

He set his plate on the table beside the chair and grabbed her by the hair, giving her a mild shake. “You had to know you’d pay for that,” he rumbled, dragging her up and across his lap, knocking the breath out of her as the hard bodice impacted with his legs and jammed against her.

“I told you so,” Lorne’s mocking voice came from across the room.

Facedown over the Wrin’s lap, she twisted her head to see him sitting in the chair opposite the Wrin, mischief dancing in his blue eyes and a smirk on his lips. He tossed a small wooden paddle to The Wrin. The snitch! He’d run and told as soon as The Wrin came home. Here she thought he was sleeping and she’d been trying to protect him.

The Wrin lifted her skirt and then clucked his tongue. “Oh, this is going to be problematic.” He slid a finger under the belt and tugged, dragging the leather painfully against her private parts.

Crap. She wasn't above begging. “Please Wrin, take it off first. Let me out of the harness.”

He pushed her off his lap onto the floor, laughing at her. “I’ll paddle you later, for the fun of it. You’re not in trouble Little Priestess; you didn’t do anything I didn’t expect you to do. Now then, I expect a token. A real one.”

A token meant without orders, he expected her to _Dal_ without instruction. It was almost worse this way when she didn't know if she was doing it properly. She crawled on her knees over to him and reached for his ties, pushing his robe aside to get to his pants. She parted the fabric and tugged him out. As usual when she did this, he was only partially hard. She bent her head and sucked him into her mouth, swirling her tongue and moving as she had been taught to do.

She expected to be at it for a while; it always took a long time to bring him off when she did it. He surprised her by shoving at her head. “ _Ard_. Enough. Go, eat, and see to your telpa, she needs to eat as well.”

“But, Wrin…” she looked at the semi-flaccid cock in her fist and then up at him.

He shoved at her. “I’m really not in the mood for you today. Go. Lorne!”

When Laura didn’t move quickly enough, Lorne picked her up under the arms and put her on her feet, then shoved her between the shoulder blades to get her moving. When she looked over her shoulder at him, he smirked in triumph and said, “Ha!”

“ _Jaa_!” The Wrin said sharply, and Lorne immediately, with perfect form, went to his knees. Laura rolled her eyes and went to collect a plate of food. She debated taking a seat to watch as Lorne pleasured The Wrin, she did like watching, and it usually pleased both of them knowing that she was watching, but she was irked at Lorne and wanted to check on Allie.

Nibbling on some cheese, she wandered into the bath chamber, just as The Wrin let out a long moan that might have been Lorne’s name. Mual had moved Allie out of the tub and was patting her dry with a soft towel as she sat on a padded stool.

Laura walked over and held the plate out. “Allie, eat something.”

Blinking up at her slowly, the girl stared at the plate without comprehension. Laura picked up a slice of fruit and held it to her lips. “Eat.” Laura ended up feeding her by hand, she was so exhausted, but eventually she got the food into her, and a cup of very watered down wine as well.

Leaving a jar of salve for Laura to reapply to the bruises later, Mual left the new telpa to Laura’s care.

“I’ll move her,” Lorne said quietly, coming up behind Laura and startling her just as she was puzzling out how to get the sleeping Allie to bed. “The Wrin wants his bath chamber back.” Carefully, he scooped Allie up into his arms and carried her to Laura’s bed.

“Wait; let me get this on her.” She lifted the night shift from the end of the bed where she had tossed it earlier, and rolled it up, pulling the neck over Allie’s head and tugging one heavy arm through the sleeve. “All right, put her down.”

He was very gentle as he lowered her to the soft sheet. Laura moved closer and finished dressing her in the shift, tugging it down over her thighs as Lorne held her up a little to allow it. As Lorne stepped away, a mark on her inner thigh caught Laura’s eye and she leaned down to look closer. It was an ink mark; a long-legged bird with a knife or sword clenched in its beak, on a background of a four petal flower. The background flower was red. Laura had only ever seen one red ink before. She stroked a finger over it thoughtfully, as she realized where she had seen that other mark.

Lorne looked at Allie, at the ugly bruises all over her thighs, arms and torso, and shook his head sadly. “So broken.”

Laura pulled the cover sheet up. “Only bruised. I hope it is only her body. Let’s go, she needs rest, and I have evening training with Feren.”

The Wrin liked to spend the time before retiring lounging on the furniture in the main chamber, engaging in lazy pursuits. Tonight, he was splayed out on the rug, nude, facedown, as Miko rubbed oil into his skin, massaging him.

Curiosity and boredom made Laura set her book aside and crawl over to sit by his head. She reached for the bottle of oil beside Miko, poured a dollop into her palm and reached for The Wrin’s hand. She worked the oil into his palm and over the back of his hand and wrist, rubbing and kneading as she had been taught by Miko, the Bardero’s master masseuse.

He turned his head and blinked at her, then smiled. “Feels good, keep doing that.”

“You are very spoiled, Wrin, you know that?” Laura teased lightly; he was in the kind of lazy mood that would allow her that.

“I work very hard, training telpa and keeping the books here; it’s only fair that I pay equal attention to my relaxation. Miko, if you keep rubbing there, I’m going to roll over and make you suck my cock. What would you say to that?”

Miko scowled and slapped his bare buttocks. “I’d say no, and tell you to find a new masseuse. I’m not one of your telpa, David.”

“Join me, Miko, be my Wrina, make beautiful little black haired babies with me.”

“No.”

In an effort to stave off a possible argument, because he was quite likely to start one if he grew bored, or Miko challenged him enough, Laura tugged his hand, “Wrin, what do you know of the troubles in the south?”

He turned his head back to look at her. “They’ve been feuding for generations. There’s about a dozen Barderos at war for various insults over the years. The latest one started about two years ago, they all chose sides after a joining meant to unite two of the bigger Barderos went bad, the Wrin murdered the heir to both Barderos, and then the Wrina murdered the Wrin. Nasty doings all around. They’re a lot less civilized down south.”

Laura poured more oil into her palm and picked up his other hand. “Is Bardero Parr’ish at war with anyone?”

“Not as such, no. There’s a few Wrins that wouldn’t mind seeing me dead, I’ve a few enemies. You’ll protect me, Little Priestess, won’t you?”

“Of course I will, with my deadly first rank skills, I’ll protect your thirtieth rank ass.” She patted his rump, and then fingered the ink mark there, “Is red ink unusual, Wrin?”

He glanced back over his shoulder to where her finger was tracing the outline of an axe over a red shield. “Not very. All titled firstborns or heirs are marked with red.”

“So The Sran does not have a red ink mark?”

“No, just the axe on a green shield, Bardero colors.” He rested his face on one arm he folded under his chin. “So inquisitive today, Little Priestess.”

She shrugged, keeping what she had seen on Allie’s thigh to herself for now. It troubled her, if what she suspected was true. Allie might be a titled high born, there could be a lot of trouble if it were ever found out that a high born was being used and treated as a telpa. Until she could talk to the girl and find out, she was not bringing this to The Wrin’s attention.

  
Lorne told Laura to take his bed for the night and went to beg The Wrin to let him into his chamber, not that it would take much begging. When Lorne didn’t come back, Laura assumed all was well and flopped onto his bed and went to sleep.

Screams invaded Laura’s dreams about a rainy day at the Prayer House. She slowly roused when she realized the sounds were not part of her dreams. Disoriented at first, waking on the wrong side of the room, she fumbled for the lamp and striker on the table beside Lorne’s bed.

Allie was thrashing in the sheets across the way, moaning and screaming. Laura set the lamp down and knelt beside the bed, grasping Allie’s shoulders and making shushing sounds.

“Allie, shhh, Allie, quiet, please, be quiet.” If she woke The Wrin, he would be very displeased.

Opening her eyes and staring at the wall behind Laura, Allie blurted, “I didn’t mean to do it, I swear, I didn’t.” Allie clutched her arms and began to sob.

Not knowing what else to do, Laura edged onto the bed beside her and pulled her into her arms, rocking her. “I’m sure you didn’t. Shhh.”

Eventually, with Laura rocking her, Allie quieted down, her breaths growing slower and slower until finally, Laura was certain she slept. Untangling herself as best she could without disturbing Allie, Laura slid off the bed and carefully set her telpa against the pillow.

It took Laura a long time to get back to sleep.

~*~

  
When Allie woke, the first thing she noticed was that she hurt, everywhere. She winced and tried to roll over, but that was excruciating.

“Stiffened up overnight?”

She looked up and saw the woman from yesterday, now her Zahi. “Yes, quite terribly, I’m afraid. I can hardly move.”

“Let me get Lorne, we’ll get you into a warm bath. That should help you loosen up.” Her Zahi went to the curtains and paused when Allie spoke.

“I apologize, Zahi. I do not yet know how I should behave. I am sorry to be troublesome.”

“You didn’t do this to yourself on purpose.”

Allie shook her head. “But I am prone to troubles, Zahi, I should warn you. I have never been very… graceful.”

“I appreciate the warning. I’ll return soon.”

Allie tried to sit up, but it hurt too much, so she slumped back down and stared at the ceiling. What had she gone and done? Was this going to be any better than it had been at Porta Bardero? Was she any safer from DranaWrina Beck’ett here in the north? Would she be able to live as someone’s body telpa? This was insane. Her life had become something completely out of control.

The curtains parted and the handsome telpa with the soft eyes from yesterday came in with Zahi. He nodded in greeting and tugged the sheet off her. “Let’s get you back in the water, shall we?” She let out a yelp as his arm brushed against the bruises as he lifted her.

Whimpering, she dropped her forehead to his shoulder. She was in too much pain to be embarrassed by any of this. Strangers seeing her naked was the least of her worries now. She was a body telpa, Zahi could do with her whatever she chose, so too The Wrin that had bought her, or the DranWrin of this Bardero, there were three people with control over her body now. Allie was certain that she had made an error. Following on the heels of other calamitous missteps, it was just another misfortune of her own making.

The water felt very good, and after she had soaked until the warmth was completely leached away and the water had grown tepid, she was able to move with only minor pain.

“Are you a telpa or a ranil?” The Wrin was leaning in the doorway, watching her, wry amusement on his face.

Cautiously, she answered as respectfully as she could, “A telpa, Wrin.” She held her tongue and did not say anything about ranil being imaginary sea creatures, the stuff of myth and the tales of the simple folk.

He sauntered into the bathing chamber. He was dressed casually, in his under tunic and trousers, tucked into knee-high gray boots. The colors of the Bardero must be green and gray, Zahi and the one she called Lorne had been dressed in those colors yesterday. She was secretly pleased at the thought that she would be wearing green from now on. No more amber of Carson’s Bardero, or the brown of her father’s. “Have you any training at all, Ranil?”

“Only a small amount, Wrin.”

“Since you are injured, I will not make you go through the forms. However, I need a base to judge your progress, I will not reward my Little Priestess for someone else’s training when I test you later. You will speak back the proper response to each command.” He sat on the stool beside the bathing tub and put his feet up on the step that ran around the base of it.

There was a strange man that was not her husband watching her bathe. Allie tried not to let that make her nervous. She had to think now, and try to be clever. She had confessed to knowing basic commands, she should stick to those and play ignorant of others.

“Tell me, Ranil, what would you do? _Ond, Jaa, Fet. Ard_.”

He was starting easy, commands any telpa child would learn at six when their training began. “I would sit, kneel, stand, and stop, Wrin.”

“ _Sis_?”

“I would show proper respect and bow to the floor from a kneeling position, Wrin.”

“ _Pol_?”

“I would stay at attention and wait for the next command, Wrin.”

“ _Rer_?”

“I would follow if being led, or come if being called, Wrin.”

“You’re from Porta Bardero.”

“How are you able to tell, Wrin?” He scowled, she’d mis-stepped, she realized as soon as the question was out of her mouth. Foolish, foolish slip.

“Your accent, and do not question me again, Ranil. _Lel, Ame, Dal_.”

She blinked, only knowing _Ame_ of the set. “I do not know those commands, Wrin.”

He leaned up and looked over the edge of the tub, studying her. “You’ve bred.”

“Yes, Wrin.” She couldn’t deny it when he could see the evidence on her belly, the marks her little son had left behind upon her to remind her always of his sojourn within her body.

He stroked his chin, staring at her. He stood and walked closer to reach over the edge of the tub and pick up her hand, turning it over and examining her palm and her fingers. “Not a field or house telpa, these hands have never seen hard labor. Not a brothel telpa, else you’d know how to _Dal_.” He reached a hand in towards her and ordered, “ _Ven_.” When she didn’t move quickly enough; he slapped her thigh, hard.

“Wrin, is my telpa in your way?” Allie heard Zahi ask from behind The Wrin. He looked towards her as she came over and tugged at his sleeve. “Let me get her out of there and properly dressed…”

The Wrin’s eyes narrowed and he jerked his arm from her grasp. “I’m simply conducting an examination of my property, Little Priestess. I wish to know more about our little Ranil.”

Zahi grabbed his arm again and tugged. “Allie, her name is Allie.” Allie knew, as the words were said, that her Zahi was deliberately trying to draw The Wrin’s attention from her, the set of her jaw and something in her eyes made Allie certain of it.

He stood and rounded on Zahi, backhanding her across the mouth and knocking her to the floor. His voice began to rise as he fixed a piercing glare on her. “I tolerate much of your lip because you usually amuse me, Laura. Today, I am not amused. Nor am I distracted. Do not think me a fool; I always know when you are playing at some game. You would be wise to pick and choose when to practice on me. Do I need to beat you?”

“No, Wrin,” her Zahi whispered. She looked over at Allie and then at the floor.

The Wrin returned to the side of the tub, and Allie had to force herself not to flinch away. “ _Ven_. I do not repeat commands in this Bardero. That is the last time I will ever do so, Ranil. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Wrin.” She spread her thighs. His hand immediately went to the mark high on her inner thigh beneath the water.

His eyes flashed up at her in surprise and he pulled his hand back and hissed angrily, “What game are you playing at, Ranil?”

She closed her legs and pulled her knees up as far as they would go, pulling back from him as far as she could. “No game, Wrin, it is no game.”

In a flash, he had turned and seized her Zahi by the throat, dragging her to her feet with a cry of surprise and pain. “What did she tell you, Laura?” He was shouting as he shook Zahi.

A clatter of boots and Lorne was at the door, a very concerned look on his face, he moved into the room cautiously and asked, “Wrin David, what has she done?”

“What makes you think she’s done anything?” The Wrin demanded, glaring at Zahi as she dangled in his grasp.

“Because you’ve raised your voice, and you are calling her Laura, which you only do when you are very angry with her. She’s turning blue, Wrin David.”

The Wrin dropped Laura immediately, and she sprawled at his feet, gasping for breath. “She knew. Last night, the little minx knew, and she was plying me for information.”

Clutching her throat, Zahi coughed and choked as she tried to explain herself. “I didn’t know, Wrin David. I swear, I don’t know anything, I only saw her mark, I wanted to understand.”

Wrin David spun towards the tub and Allie saw that he knew, it was over, here and now. She wondered if he’d end her himself or if he would send her south to collect a bounty. He shook his head and muttered, “What game?”

He glared at her as she chewed her lip and met his eyes. “Not a game. A new life, I made a choice, Wrin. Please don’t kill me.”

“Kill you? Who said anything about killing?” he snorted derisively.

“If you send me back, they will kill me, it would be the same as delivering the stroke yourself.”

“Firstborn of a Bardero. How can I possibly keep a firstborn in service?”

“Firstborn of a bankrupt Bardero, a broken house, all assets sold off, including the children. There’s no stain on your hands for this, Wrin David.” She sat up a little straighter, she was found out as a fraud, she didn’t need to pretend unaccustomed subservience any longer.

“You would stoop so low, you would be a body telpa to a body telpa?”

Allie nodded. “Allie…” he said as he looked at her and she saw the moment when he connected all the information he had. His eyes went wide and he stumbled back and dropped down onto the padded stool near the wall. He pointed as his jaw dropped. “You’re Alison Beck’ett.”

“Yes.”

“A murderess, I’m harboring a fugitive murderess in my bath chamber.”

Allie struggled to get up, slipping on the tile of the bathing tub. “I am not a murderess!” She fell back with a squelching splash. Slapping at the water in frustration she looked at Lorne and commanded, “Help me up!”

Conditioned to obey the tone Lorne leapt to do her bidding. Realizing what he was doing, he stopped. Conflicted, Lorne looked to The Wrin, who waved his assent. He went to the tub and picked her up under the arms and lifted her out, setting her on the step beside the tub. He passed her a large towel, which she wrapped around herself.

Turning towards The Wrin, the one she had to convince of her innocence, Allie said, “I am not a murderess.”

“You murdered Wrin Beck’ett.”

“Because DranaWrina Beck’ett says it is so? She always hated me, and claiming Carson’s death was deliberate was a way to get rid of me. I did not murder my husband. I loved him."

The Wrin was at least listening to her, more than anyone else had done in quite a long time. Puzzled he asked, “So, you didn’t kill him?”

“I killed him, but I didn’t murder him.”

He threw up his hands and sat back against the wall. “Explain that!”

“It was an accident. By Hepsah, I swear it, give me your knife, I’ll swear it in blood.” The memories of that day washed over her and she began to sob as it played over in her mind. “I was looking for him, he had taken to wandering all over the Bardero, avoiding the treatment rooms and the sick dormitories, one of the telpa said they had seen him going to the lower levels. I didn't know why he would go there, but I went to find him and bring him back above stairs. I went to the stairwell to go down, and the door stuck. It was heavy, so I pushed it as hard as I could; I had to lean on it with all my weight to move it. I didn’t know he was on the stairs. I swear, I didn’t know!”

There had been a thud as the door gave and swung inwards quickly and hit him, a cry of surprise that faded as he fell, then a series of sickening thumps as he hit the stone steps. By the time she got to him, he was dead, his head smashed on the stone floor of the cellar.

“He fell after the door hit him; he hit his head and died before I reached the bottom step. I called for help, I’m certain I was screaming. There was so much blood. When they finally came, the DranaWrina accused me of pushing him, she started calling me a murderess, and had me thrown into the cells.”

Her Zahi had crept over to her and was stroking her arm, looking at Allie with pity. After two years of being looked at with hatred and suspicion, even pity was a welcome sight. Allie burst into tears again and fell forward into her Zahi’s arms. She soaked up the comfort being offered; perhaps Zahi truly was a Little Priestess as the Wrin called her, offering solace to a lost soul.

“They said you murdered him in retaliation for killing your son,” The Wrin spoke after a long while, startling Allie as she realized he was sitting beside them now, no longer across the room.

“A twisting of words by the DranaWrina, meant to implicate me. I did not blame Carson, how could I blame him? It was an error, an accident. He did not know the bottles had been switched; the jilla root extract was in the wrong vial. It was too late when he realized, Sammie was too far gone, too sick with fever to fight off the poisoning too. Our son’s death broke my husband; he was never the same after that. My father blamed Bardero Beck’ett for the death of his heir, blamed my husband. It didn’t matter to my father that Sammie was the heir to both Barderos, he took it as a plot against him, an excuse to resume the hostilities.”

“A vendetta that cost him everything,” The Wrin said when she fell silent. “He destroyed a dynasty.”

“What will you do with me, Wrin David?” Allie asked.

He sighed and shook his head, then stood and paced the bath chamber, his boots clicking loudly on the tiles. “If I send you to Bardero Beck’ett, the DranaWrina will do away with you, of that I have no doubt. Porta Bardero is gone, the assets auctioned off yesterday, the grounds sold to Weir Bardero. You are a walking dead heiress to a dead house.”

“Yes, Wrin David, that is exactly what I am.”

“I’ll ask you again, you would willingly serve as a body telpa to my personal body telpa?”

“For the protection of this Bardero, yes, Wrin David, I would, I have nothing else. At least as a nameless telpa, I would have safety here.”

He tapped his chin and looked at Laura and Lorne. “This would be a disaster if it were ever known. The sanctions that would come down on this Bardero would break us; we would lose our charters, lose our ability to do business, for harboring an accused fugitive. By law, I am expected to put her to the sword right here and now.”

“Please, David, no!” Zahi begged, throwing herself at his feet, going to her knees and grabbing at his trousers. She had begun to gasp for breath, it seemed like she was choking as she gasped, “No, please, no killing.” Concerned that her Zahi was going to be punished again for calling The Wrin by his family name, Allie started forward, intending to get between them, to take the punishment herself this time.

She stopped when The Wrin crouched down and pulled her into his arms instead of striking her as Allie had expected, after his earlier outburst. “Shh, Little Priestess, shh. Breathe. Laura, breathe. That’s it. That’s my girl. I won’t hurt your pet. Shh. All right, all right, I’ll think of something. Breathe, Laura.”

He surprised Allie again by sitting on the floor and holding her Zahi, rubbing her back, stroking her hair and continuing to make calming sounds. When she was quiet, he kissed her forehead. “Better?”

“Yes, Wrin. Apologies, Wrin,” she sniffled and wiped a hand across her eyes and nose.

“This is what will happen,” The Wrin nudged Laura off his lap and drew his knees up, looking at each of the three others in turn. He reached to his hip and withdrew his ceremonial dagger from its sheath. He held his hand out to Allie, and she slid across the tile and gave him her hand. He drew the blade across her palm, turning it and dripping the blood into his own. “Alison Beck’ett is dead. I held her blood in my hand.”

He moved Allie’s hand out towards Laura, who looked mildly confused, but held her hand out when The Wrin tossed his chin towards it. Squeezing Allie’s hand, he let a few drops of Allie’s blood drip down into Laura’s hand. Catching on, Laura repeated his words, “Alison Beck’ett is dead, I held her blood in my hand.”

Without prompting, Lorne knelt beside Allie and took her bloody hand. “Alison Beck’ett is dead. I held her blood in my hand.”

“You’ll go on the books as Ranil. Outside these chambers, you are Ranil, within them, you may go by Allie. I will never hear the names Alison Beck’ett or Alison Porta spoken in my presence again, she does not exist, is that understood, Lorne?”

“Yes, Wrin David.”

“Laura?”

“Yes, Wrin David.”

“For the last time, I call you Alison Beck’ett, heiress of Porta Bardero, and then never again, do you understand?”

“Yes, Wrin David.”

He sliced the blade across his own palm and pressed it their hands together. It stung and she winced. “You hold my blood in your hand as well, Ranil. Do not make me regret sparing your life.”

Later, Ali stared at the bandage around her hand as she sat on a pile of cushions in the main chamber. She wasn’t dead. She had escaped. Her old life was over, gone, never to be mentioned again. She could leave Carson and Sammie in the past, let them rest, let them go.

Now she just had to learn to be a telpa.

Her Zahi came into the chamber; she had been at a training session with someone called Max. She saw that Allie was awake and came over to stand in front of her. “I have a question.”

“Yes, Zahi?”

“How did you convince someone to truss you up like that?”

Allie smiled. “The Taskmaster at Porta Bardero was a… friend, an old playmate. I trusted him to bind me, he’s done it before. I did not expect to be bound for more than a day or two. The liquidation of Porta Bardero took longer than I would have thought possible.”

“You’ve played… with a Taskmaster?” Her Zahi’s brow went up a notch.

“Before I went to… I was not always married, Zahi.” She licked her lower lip and looked up at her Zahi, a woman who had been willing to endure pain in order to see her kept safe.

“Interesting. I hope your bruises heal up soon, training you is going to be very interesting indeed.” Her Zahi turned and sauntered away, whistling. Allie realized that she looked forward to that time as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Artwork by clwilson2006
> 
> Glossary of Telpa Commands:  
> Ame - bend over  
> Ard - stop  
> Bir - pleasure yourself  
> Cre - wash up  
> Dal - orally pleasure  
> Fet - stand  
> Gan - strip  
> Jaa - kneel  
> Lel - undo, prepare, pay reverence  
> Pol - kneel, sit or stand at attention  
> Rer - Come, follow  
> Sis - pay homage, kneel and prostrate  
> Tes - roll over  
> Ven - spread legs apart


End file.
